The growth of software as a service (SaaS) solutions for file storage and delivery has provided challenges for enterprise network administrators that seek to control and secure data on their network. SaaS solutions are sometimes referred to as solutions provided in “the Cloud.” One drawback in choosing to use services provided by an external storage provider is that an enterprise risks exposing sensitive data to an untrusted third party. For example, the data may be subject to the policies and control of the external service provider rather than that of the enterprise network. The enterprise may thus be unable to enforce policies such as its own password requirements when working with externally stored data. The enterprise may also be unable to track where files are kept by users of the external storage provider.
Furthermore, external storage providers can operate in an all-or-nothing approach to providing users with access. That is, an external storage provider may provide storage services to a particular user or to an entire corporation. However, the present solutions do not provide the ability for implementing the more granular approach to file access that exists in typical enterprise network settings. For example, an enterprise network may typically involve a variety of different user groups who may have varying degrees of access to different files (whether broken down by organization hierarchy or different groups within an organization). Such a granular approach to granting and authorizing access to files according to groups of users within an enterprise network is currently unavailable to those wishing to combine their enterprise network with the services provided by external storage providers.